Since giving thanks is an essential part of being a Christian Scientist, I certainly need to express my gratitude for the many blessings that have come into my life from the study of this truly divine Science, which Mary Baker Eddy has given to the world.

A remarkable healing of my brother of an incapacitating disease pronounced incurable by medical specialists brought Christian Science into my life when I was twelve years old. I knew then that this was the truth of real being and that it was the only religion for me.

During high school and the first two years of college I did not pursue the study of Christian Science wholeheartedly. But, upon entering the service in World War II, I registered as a Christian Scientist and had the stimulating experience of meeting some of the consecrated Wartime Ministers who served our Cause so devotedly during that period. As a result of being in contact with two of them at different stations, my attitude toward military service changed completely, and I entered upon work I had often affirmed I would not do. This led to the work I had wanted to do and to the position I had hoped for, one that had previously been denied to me. Everywhere in the service, overseas as well as in the States, wherever I met Christian Scientists I saw healing work going on. I am most grateful for the protection I experienced during that time, and that with the help of Christian Science I came to enjoy my service experience.

A recent healing of our oldest daughter has particularly prompted me to give this testimony. She came home from the first grade one afternoon apparently quite ill. We called a Christian Science practitioner to treat her. The practitioner's calm assurance and vigorous statements of the truth of our daughter's real being in God's image quieted our fears, which were aroused by the physical symptoms that appeared. Our daughter seemed unable to hold her head up straight. She complained of pain and in a very few days lost much weight.

One evening when she lay crying in great pain, I brought my textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, and sat beside her to work for her as we are taught to do in Christian Science. My wife was unable to reach the practitioner at that moment, and I felt a bit of panic as I started turning the pages of our textbook. But I am grateful to say that this false sensation was reversed. Never before had I felt such a powerful sense of God's presence and the nothingness of the evil as I read statements in Science and Health, showing the present availability of the Christ-cure The child did not stop crying right away, but all sense of fear ad been expelled from my thinking. I turned around to find that her four-year-old brother had brought his Bible and Science and Health, spread them out on the floor, and indicated that he was going to pray for her too.

Our girl was back in school soon afterward, having missed only six days. The healing was complete, and the weight she had lost was soon restored. We are most grateful for the consecrated work of the practitioner in this healing, for her clear and forthright expression of the healing truth of Christian Science, and for her certainty of the consummation of the healing.

I am grateful for all the avenues open to us to progress in the understanding of Christian Science: class instruction, branch church work, Mother Church membership and its inspiring Annual Meetings, and our Christian Science periodicals and publications. I am grateful, above all, that Mrs. Eddy revealed to us that the healing Christ was not just for one period of time but endures forever. As she has put it so well on page 98 of Science and Health: "Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian Mind-healing stands a revealed and practical Science. It is imperious throughout all ages as Christ's revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which remains inviolate for every man to understand and to practise."

Bristol Hall
Gloucester, Massachusetts

I am happy to verify the above account of the healing of our daughter. During this same time difficult traits of temperament, which appear to be considered a common problem of children of her age, completely disappeared, and she not only evidenced perfect physical health but also mental radiance and joy. I can never sufficiently express my gratitude for Christian Science, for the Master, Christ Jesus, and for the author of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy.

(Mrs.) Marilyn R. Hall